Maldonado (20-6) was on the brink of his UFC exit when he stepped in as a late replacement to face Glover Teixeira at UFC 153 in late 2012. He lost that fight, but put on such a heartfelt performance that he remained on the roster.

He has since recovered with back-to-back victories over Roger Hollett and Joey Beltran. The victory over Beltran was his most recent, coming at UFC Fight Night 29.

Villante (11-4) lost his UFC debut to Ovince St. Preux in April, but rebounded with a TKO stoppage of Cody Donovan at UFC 167 in November.